


Distraction

by morrezela



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fingering, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 06:23:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: Cassandra finds herself... distracted by Cullen.





	Distraction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunspot (unavoidedcrisis)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unavoidedcrisis/gifts).

> This was written as a pinch-hit for sunspot in 2019's Black Emporium exchange.

“Would you like to dance?” Cullen’s question caught Cassandra off guard.

“You don’t like to dance,” Cassandra reminded him as she tore her eyes away from where the Inquisitor was waltzing out on the balcony, being twirled about like she hadn’t a care in the world. It painted a pretty picture, but one that wasn’t true. Not of Cassandra's life, and she suspected not even of the Inquisitor's. 

“I do owe you for earlier,” Cullen reminded her.

“Oh, that.” She withheld her snort because it had been nothing. The Inquisitor had asked her to find Cullen. Being able to push demanding courtiers out of the way in the name of “Inquisition Business” had just been a perk. Josephine was probably going to complain about it later, but Cassandra didn't care. 

Cullen extended a hand to her anyway, and as he was a friend, she felt she had to accept his invitation. It didn’t hurt that she could feel the envious glances tossed her way. Glances that she rarely encountered as a woman. Always they were cast on her for the positions she obtained, never because she was dancing with the belle of the ball.

It was almost like a scene out of one of her romance books. Almost. Cullen’s dancing wasn’t that of a dashing young prince nor a scandalous scoundrel. He didn’t crush her to his well-defined chest in passion, and instead held her at the acceptable distance. And the blood wasn’t rushing through her ears enough to block out Varric’s boisterous snickering.

“Remind me to kill Varric,” she muttered.

“Pardon?” Cullen sounded distracted. Probably just the exhaustion of spending too much time at court. Though she’d need to make sure to check on him once they returned to Skyhold.

“Never mind.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up in the dead of night was never a pleasant experience but waking up to screams and warning bells being rung made it considerably worse. She felt a bit of shame at the relief that came when she burst through the doors of Herald’s Rest only to find it was a kitchen fire causing all the commotion. Still, if she read the looks on other people’s faces correctly, they too were happy it wasn’t another assault by Corypheus.

“I live here, you ass! Why would I set fire to where I live?” Sera’s strident voice echoed in the main room of the tavern as Cassandra pushed her way through the throng.

“I am simply pointing out that I am not a fumbling first-year student who caused fires in kitchens!” Dorian’s cultured voice yelled back.

“That’s not what I heard.”

“Oh? What, pray tell, did you hear exactly? And from whose lips?”

“Hey, uh. Maybe we should think about clearing all these people out here and save the fighting for later?” Iron Bull sounded almost nervous. Cassandra didn’t think she’d ever heard him nervous before.

“It was you!” Dorian accused. “You lumbering lummox!”

Just as Cassandra pushed her way through the onlookers, Cullen snapped, “Enough!” He started giving out orders with such a stern voice that it made both Sera and Dorian skulk away – though Dorian dragged an unwilling Bull behind him. To her shame, Cassandra didn’t really listen to the orders he spat out. She was too distracted.

While she’d taken the time to slap on at least some basic armor, Cullen had apparently charged in without such necessities. His white, linen shirt was hanging loose, tails not even tucked into his worn, brown leggings. His boots were slouched down instead of properly smoothed up his calves. His sword was still gripped in one hand, but his shield was propped up against one of the support beams.

“Curly,” Cole said to himself as he appeared at Cassandra’s side. Or at least, she thought he was talking to himself. Who could ever tell with Cole?

“Curly,” he repeated. “I didn’t understand before. But now I do.” He spoke as if something was a revelation. Cassandra was about to ask what, but then her brain caught up with her eyes.

Cullen’s hair was a riot of tiny, corkscrew curls. Some of them frizzed out, likely where he’d been sleeping on them. But curls nonetheless. Untamed by the styling product and careful grooming that usually left them in perfect waves, they looked soft and shiny. Cassandra felt an urge to wrap at least one lock around her fingers and tug on it. Gently, of course. Teasingly even. She’d…

She glanced over at Cole, but he didn’t seem to notice her. One could never be too careful around him though. “Go tell the Inquisitor that she needn’t come down here,” she ordered.

“But Cullen already sent Sera to do that!”

“Go anyway. Make sure she did as she was told.” She worried that maybe Cole would protest some more, but he went. Thank the Maker for that.

Taking a deep breath, she made her way over to Cullen. He looked over at her, and relief crossed over his weary face. “Cassandra,” her name almost sounded like a prayer.

Steeling herself against untoward thoughts, she managed an approximation of her usual, brusque tone as she asked, “What happened?”

“Kitchen fire. Probably just old grease. I’m more concerned with the fact that everyone almost immediately began blaming each other.”

“Sera is always combative. And Dorian can be snide. It is nothing to worry about.” Sometimes she forgot that not everyone knew them as well as she did. Constant marching through distant lands forged a sort of camaraderie that couldn’t be duplicated.

But Cullen was shaking his head. “Not that. The people in the tavern. Some said it was surely fire arrows, or maybe even dangerous flasks. Others shouted that it was mages. I expected this from our mages and templars. But not the people.”

“Sometimes it is easier to blame those in high positions than to think clearly,” Cassandra offered.

To her surprise, Cullen laughed. “Maker, can you imagine it? Sera being viewed as a person of authority? I’m not sure who’d hate it more – them or her.”

Despite herself, Cassandra chuckled as well. “Definitely Sera.”

Cullen gave her a wan smile eyes staring off at something behind her head before clearing his throat and refocusing. “We should take a look at the kitchen and then figure out the best plan for repairing the damage. The night cook can only do so much work, and I’d rather all of Skyhold run as efficiently as possible.”

“Yes, of course,” Cassandra agreed. Cullen took this at face value and wandered back into the still smoking ruins of the kitchen. Cassandra couldn’t help her eyes from glancing at the way the tails of his shirt grazed across his backside as he walked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Fuck!” Cassandra gasped out as her fingers tugged at the curls winding their way around her fingers. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d ended up in Cullen’s bedchambers. She just remembered returning from the Inquisitor’s latest adventures and thinking it might be a good idea to check in on the commander.

She’d been exhausted at the time, but she wasn’t now. She wasn’t sure where her clothes had gone, and she was doubly unsure of where Cullen’s had landed. What she was sure of were the fingers pushed inside of her cunt, and the thumb flicking across her clit.

“Enough,” she groaned as she pulled his hand free and pushed him onto his bed. “I’m not in the mood to be toyed with.”

“When are you ever?” Cullen retorted.

“Do not get sassy with me, Commander,” Cassandra replied as she straddled his hips. It was a heatless threat, but an effective one. Or maybe it was just her hand curling around his cock to guide it inside of her that was what made him speechless.

Though it had been a long while since she’d indulged in anything carnal with a man, Cassandra’s body remembered the right rhythm. The stretch of muscles as she lifted herself up and down his shaft, the hardness inside of her, and the way his calloused hands stroked over her skin was ecstasy. More so for Cullen given how quickly his eyes were rolling back into his head in pleasure.

If she was expecting an apology, she didn’t get it. What she did get was flipped over onto her back, and fingers back insider of her. They slid more easily than before which was a good thing given that Cullen had picked up his tempo, pushing in harder and faster than before. He used his other hand to rub at her clit, using the slickness of their fucking to tease at her. Fleeting touches, then harder ones, then light again.

It was maddening. And it was good. And she wasn’t embarrassed that she gasped a little when she came, clenching down around Cullen’s fingers as hard as she could as if she could keep them there. Still, he pulled them free after a moment and collapsed down beside her, his panting a little less frantic than her own.

“You distract me,” he confessed into the silent room.

“I distract you?” Cassandra laughed. “I’m not the one running around with her shirt askew and hair undone!”

“Well, you could be,” he said as he tugged ever so gently at her braid.

Her fingers met his as she reached up to feel where her hair pins had already come loose. “Be careful, these are not pleasant to step on.”

“I’m more concerned about retrieving your clothes from my office without a messenger walking in with urgent news. I forgot to lock the door,” Cullen confessed as he helped her pull the pins free.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll live. I’m certainly not going down there in the nude.”

He laughed as he tugged the last pin free and curled her braid around his finger. “You have beautiful hair,” he whispered against her lips as he pressed a far less heated kiss against them.

Cassandra didn’t return the compliment. She’d save that for the next time they got distracted.


End file.
